Punta ePrix: Di Grassi tops practice with new track record

The reigning champion ended the latter session 0.408s clear of Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird, who just pipped Jaguar’s Mitch Evans to second place.

The top nine spots in the second session were filled by drivers from nine different teams.

Earlier in the day, Renault e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi set the fastest time in FP1, and the 2015/16 champion was one of the first drivers to go for a full power 200k/w effort in the second session.

But the former Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver encountered heavy traffic – a problem that impacted on drivers up and down the field throughout practice – and although he took the top spot, he was quickly shuffled down the order.

Championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne then briefly took first place before NIO driver Oliver Turvey usurped him at the head of the times.

The 30-minute second session was disrupted by a heavy crash for Andretti’s Tom Blomqvist, who clattered a big kerb at the second part of the Turn 10/11 chicane just after he clipped the wall running onto the back straight following the Turns 8 and 9 double left-hander.

The impact on the kerb swung Blomqvist’s car around and he hit the wall hard, destroying the left-rear.

After a six-minute delay, the session resumed to allow the drivers to make their final preparations ahead of qualifying and the race.

Di Grassi seized P1 with a lap of 1m13.672s, but only set a personal best time in the first sector, suggesting he could have gone faster.

Turvey improved his best time but was shuffled down to fourth by the late efforts of Evans and Bird.

Nico Prost jumped up to fifth late on to head Vergne and Edoardo Mortara.

Mortara damaged his car’s survival cell at the second chicane on the track’s return leg, Turn 14/15, during Friday’s shakedown, which necessitated an overnight change.

He was initially hit with a 10-place grid penalty, but had that rescinded by stewards because a “sufficient repair of the chassis is not possible” in Punta del Este.

Nick Heidfeld improved from 13th in FP1 to eighth overall following the second session, with Buemi’s traffic-hit laps meaning his best time from first practice put him ninth in the overall order.

Blomqvist rounded out the top 10 despite his crash, ahead of Virgin’s Alex Lynn.

Luca Filippi was 13th after practice and the NIO driver was reprimanded for his start practice following FP1 – the drivers are required to line up in single file when doing so.

He was then place under investigation during FP2 after allegedly speeding during the red flag.

Nelson Piquet, who spectacularly held an oversteer moment at the final hairpin late on, headed Mexico winner Daniel Abt and Techeetah driver Andre Lotterer in 16th.

Felix Rosenqvist set a purple first sector during a full power effort in FP2, but had to back out of the lap and wound up 20th and last overall, one spot behind his earlier finishing position in first practice.

FP1 results

Pos.	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1	9	Sébastien Buemi	DAMS	24	1'14.536
2	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	19	1'14.879	0.343
3	1	Lucas di Grassi	Team Abt	26	1'14.941	0.405
4	36	Alex Lynn	Virgin Racing	24	1'15.036	0.500
5	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah	27	1'15.098	0.562
6	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	24	1'15.129	0.593
7	3	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Jaguar Racing	24	1'15.176	0.640
8	16	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E Team	25	1'15.357	0.821
9	66	Daniel Abt	Team Abt	24	1'15.513	0.977
10	8	Nicolas Prost	DAMS	24	1'15.584	1.048
11	4	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	27	1'15.626	1.090
12	18	Andre Lotterer	Techeetah	25	1'15.635	1.099
13	23	Nick Heidfeld	Mahindra Racing	22	1'15.876	1.340
14	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	24	1'15.908	1.372
15	5	Maro Engel	Venturi	24	1'16.107	1.571
16	28	Antonio Felix da Costa	Andretti Autosport	25	1'16.132	1.596
17	6	Jose Maria Lopez	Dragon Racing	20	1'16.162	1.626
18	27	Tom Blomqvist	Andretti Autosport	22	1'16.216	1.680
19	19	Felix Rosenqvist	Mahindra Racing	29	1'16.369	1.833
20	68	Luca Filippi	NIO Formula E Team	25	1'16.570	2.034

FP2 results

Pos.	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1	1	Lucas di Grassi	Team Abt	13	1'13.672
2	2	Sam Bird	Virgin Racing	14	1'14.080	0.408
3	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	14	1'14.135	0.463
4	16	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E Team	13	1'14.267	0.595
5	8	Nicolas Prost	DAMS	12	1'14.270	0.598
6	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah	9	1'14.400	0.728
7	4	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	15	1'14.408	0.736
8	23	Nick Heidfeld	Mahindra Racing	12	1'14.504	0.832
9	27	Tom Blomqvist	Andretti Autosport	13	1'14.536	0.864
10	36	Alex Lynn	Virgin Racing	14	1'14.602	0.930
11	9	Sébastien Buemi	DAMS	11	1'14.679	1.007
12	28	Antonio Felix da Costa	Andretti Autosport	10	1'14.868	1.196
13	68	Luca Filippi	NIO Formula E Team	13	1'15.042	1.370
14	7	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	11	1'15.070	1.398
15	5	Maro Engel	Venturi	17	1'15.071	1.399
16	3	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Jaguar Racing	13	1'15.170	1.498
17	66	Daniel Abt	Team Abt	13	1'15.624	1.952
18	18	Andre Lotterer	Techeetah	10	1'15.700	2.028
19	6	Jose Maria Lopez	Dragon Racing	12	1'15.712	2.040
20	19	Felix Rosenqvist	Mahindra Racing	14	1'15.859	2.187